.mailrc Aliases

Aliases that are listed in a .mailrc file
are accessible only by the user who owns the file. This restriction enables
users to establish an alias file that they control and that is usable only
by its owner. Aliases in a .mailrc file adhere to the
following format.

alias aliasname value value value ...

aliasname is the name that the user uses
when sending mail, and value is a valid email address.

If a user establishes a personal alias for scott that
does not match the email address for scott in the name
service, an error occurs. Mail is routed to the wrong person when people try
to reply to mail that is generated by this user. The only workaround is to
use any of the other aliasing mechanisms.

/etc/mail/aliases File

Any alias that is established in the /etc/mail/aliases file can be used by any user who knows the name
of the alias and the host name of the system that contains the file. Distribution
list formats in a local /etc/mail/aliases file adhere
to the following format.

aliasname: value,value,value ...

aliasname is the name that the user uses when sending
mail to this alias, and value is a valid email address.

If your network is not running a name service, the /etc/mail/aliases file of each system should contain entries for all mail clients.
You can either edit the file on each system or edit the file on one system
and copy the file to each of the other systems.

The aliases in the /etc/mail/aliases file are stored
in text form. When you edit the /etc/mail/aliases file,
you need to run the newaliases program. This program
recompiles the database and makes the aliases available in binary form to
the sendmail program. For task information, refer to How to Set Up a Local Mail Alias File in Chapter 13, Mail Services (Tasks). Otherwise,
you can use the Mailing List feature in the Solaris Management Console to
administer the mail aliases that are stored in the local /etc files.

You can create aliases for only local names, such as a current host
name or no host name. For example, an alias entry for user ignatz who
has a mailbox on the system saturn would have the following
entry in the /etc/mail/aliases file.

ignatz: ignatz@saturn

You should create an administrative
account for each mail server. You create such an account by assigning a mailbox
on the mail server to root and by adding an entry for root to the /etc/mail/aliases file. For example,
if the system saturn is a mailbox server, add the entry root:sysadmin@saturn to the /etc/mail/aliases file.

Normally, only the root user
can edit this file. However, when you use the Solaris Management Console,
all users in group 14, which is the sysadmin group, can change the local file.
Another option is to create the following entry.

aliasname: :include:/path/aliasfile

aliasname is the name that the user uses when sending
mail, and /path/aliasfile is the full path to the file
that contains the alias list. The alias file should include email entries,
one entry on each line, and no other notations.

user1@host1user2@host2

You can define additional mail files in /etc/mail/aliases to
keep a log or a backup copy. The following entry stores all mail that is
sent to aliasname in filename.

aliasname: /home/backup/filename

You can also route the mail to another process. The following example
stores a copy of the mail message in filename and
prints a copy.

NIS aliases Map

All users
in a local domain can use the entries that are in the NIS aliases map.
The reason is that the sendmail program can use the NIS aliases map instead of the local /etc/mail/aliases files
to determine mailing addresses. For more information, refer to the nsswitch.conf(4) man page.

Aliases in the NIS aliases map adhere to the following
format.

aliasname: value,value,value ...

aliasname is the name that the user uses when sending
mail, and value is a valid email address.

The NIS aliases map should contain entries for all
mail clients. In general, only the root user on the NIS master can change
these entries. This type of alias might not be a good choice for aliases that
are constantly changing. However, such aliases can be useful if the aliases
point to another alias file, as in the following syntax example.

aliasname: aliasname@host

aliasname is the name that the user uses
when sending mail, and host is the host name for
the server that contains an /etc/mail/alias file.

NIS+ mail_aliases Table

The NIS+ mail_aliases table contains the names
by which a system or person is known in the local domain. The sendmail program
can use the NIS+ mail_aliases table, instead of the local /etc/mail/aliases files, to determine mailing addresses. Refer
to the aliasadm(1M) and nsswitch.conf(4) man pages for more information.

Aliases in the NIS+ mail_aliases table adhere to
the following format:

alias: expansion # ["options" # "comments"]

Table 14–12 describes
the four columns that are in an NIS+ mail_aliases table.

Table 14–12 Columns in the NIS+ mail_aliases Table

Column

Description

alias

The name of the alias

expansion

The value of the alias or a list of aliases as it would appear in a sendmail/etc/mail/aliases file

options

The column that is reserved for future use

comments

The column for comments about an individual alias

The NIS+ mail_aliases table should contain entries
for all mail clients. You can list, create, modify, and delete entries in
the NIS+ aliases table with the aliasadm command.
To use the aliasadm command, you must be a member of
the NIS+ group that owns the aliases table. For task information,
refer to Administering Mail Alias Files (Task Map) in Chapter 13, Mail Services (Tasks). Alternately, you can use the Solaris Management Console to
administer the NIS+ mail aliases.

Note –

If you are creating a new NIS+ aliases table,
you must initialize the table before you create the entries. If the table
exists, no initialization is needed.